ANCIENT ROME FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES DOWN TO 476 A.D
By Robert F. Pennel (1890)Project Gutenberg File Converted into HTML pages by Nalanda Digital Library under Etext Conversion Project (ECP)
CHAPTER XV - THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.-FROM CANNAE TO THE BATTLE OF ZAMA (216-202).
ROME was appalled; but though defeated, she was not subdued. All the Latin allies were summoned for aid in the common peril. Boys and old men alike took up arms even the slaves were promised freedom if they would join the ranks.
Hannibal marched from Cannae into Campania. He induced Capua, the second city of Italy, to side with him. But his expectations that other cities would follow her example were not fulfilled. He went into winter quarters here (215-214). The Capuans, notorious for their luxurious and effeminate habits, are said to have injured his soldiers. But Hannibal's superiority as a general is unquestionable, and his want of success after this was due to insufficient aid from home, and to the fact that the resources of Rome were greater than those of Carthage. The Latin allies of Rome had remained true to their allegiance, and only one city of importance was under his control. It was an easy matter to conquer the enemy in open battle, but to support his own army was more difficult, for all Italy had been devastated. On the other hand, the Romans were well supplied with food from their possessions in Sicily.
Hannibal saw, therefore, that more active measures than those already employed were necessary. He sent to Carthage an appeal for aid. He formed an alliance with Philip V. of Macedonia, and earnestly urged Hasdrubal Baroa, his lieutenant in Spain, to come to his assistance. He hoped, with this army from the north, with supplies and reinforcements from Carthage, and with such troops as he might obtain from Macedonia, to concentrate a large force at Rome and compel her into submission.
The Romans, realizing the position of Hannibal, kept what forces they could spare in Spain, under the two Scipio brothers, Publius and Gnaeus. With these they hoped to stop reinforcements from reaching the enemy from that quarter. At the same time their army in Northern Greece effectually engaged the attention of Philip. Thus two years (214-212) passed without any material change in the situation of affairs in Italy.
In 212, while the Carthaginians were in the extreme south of Italy, besieging Tarentum, the Romans made strenuous efforts to recover Campania, and especially Capua. Hannibal, learning the danger, marched rapidly north, and failing to break through the lines which enclosed the city, resolved to advance on Rome itself.
Silently and quickly he marched along the Via Latino through the heart of the territory of Rome, to within three miles of the city, and with his vanguard he even rode up to one of the city gates. But no ally joined him; no Roman force was recalled to face him; no proposals of peace reached his camp. Impressed by the unmoved confidence of the enemy, he withdrew as quickly as he came, and retreated to his head- quarters in the South.
Capua fell in 211, and the seat of war, to the great relief of Rome, was removed to Lucania and Bruttium. The punishment inflicted upon Capua was severe. Seventy of her Senators were killed, three hundred of her chief citizens imprisoned, and the whole people sold as slaves. The city and its territory were declared to be Roman territory, and the place was afterwards repeopled by Roman occupants.
Such was the fate of this famous city. Founded in as early times as Rome itself, it became the most flourishing city of Magna Graecia, renowned for its luxury and refinement, and as the home of all the highest arts and culture.
AFFAIRS IN SICILY.
HIERO II., tyrant of Syracuse, died in 216. During his long reign of more than fifty years he had been the stanch friend and ally of Rome in her struggles with Carthage. Hieronymus, the grandson and successor of Hiero, thought fit to ally himself with Carthage. The young tyrant, who was arrogant and cruel, was assassinated after reigning a few months.
The Roman Governor of Sicily, MARCELLUS, troubled by the Carthaginian faction in Syracuse, threatened the city with an attack unless the leaders of this faction were expelled. In return, they endeavored to arouse the citizens of the neighboring city of Leontini against Rome and the Roman party in Syracuse. Marcellus at once attacked and stormed Leontini. The Syracusans then closed their city gates against him. A siege of two years (214-212) followed, famous for the various devices adopted by the noted mathematician ARCHIMÉDES [Footnote: Archimédes was a great investigator in the science of mathematics. He discovered the ratio of a sphere to its circumscribed cylinder. One of his famous sayings was, "Give me where to stand, and I will move the world." He exerted his ingenuity in the invention of powerful machines for the defence of Syracuse. Eight of his works on mathematics are in existence. He was killed at the close of the siege by a Roman soldier, who would have spared his life had he not been too intent on a mathematical problem to comply with the summons to surrender. On his tombstone, it is said, was engraved a cylinder enclosing a sphere.] to defeat the movements of the Romans. The city was finally betrayed by a Spanish officer, and given up to plunder. The art treasures in which it was so rich were conveyed by Marcellus to Rome. From this time (212) the city became a part of the province of Sicily and the head- quarters of the Roman Governor.
THE CAMPAIGNS IN SPAIN.
PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO, with his brother, GNAEUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO CALVUS, were winning victories over the Carthaginians under HANNO and HASDRUBAL. The greatest of these was fought in 215 at Ibera, the location of which is uncertain. Spain was gradually being gained over to Rome, when the Carthaginians, making desperate efforts, sent large reinforcements there (212). The armies of the Scipios were separated, surprised, and overwhelmed. Both their leaders were slain, and Spain was lost to Rome.
Unless checked, the Carthaginians would now cross the Alps, enter Italy, and, joining forces with Hannibal, place Rome in great danger. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO, son of one of the slain generals, then but twenty-four years of age, offered to go to Spain and take command. He had previously made himself very popular as Aedile, and was unanimously elected to the command. On his arrival in Spain in 210, he found the whole country west of the Ebro under the enemy's control.
Fortunately for the Romans, the three Carthaginian generals, HASDRUBAL and MAGO, brothers of Hannibal, and HASDRUBAL, son of Gisco, did not act in harmony. Thus Scipio was enabled, in the following spring (209), to capture Carthago Nova, the head-quarters of the enemy. A good harbor was gained, and eighteen ships of war, sixty-three transports, $600,000, and 10,000 captives fell into the hands of the Romans.
Shortly after, Scipio fought Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, at BAECULAE, in the upper valley of the Baetis (Guadalquivir); but the battle was not decisive, for Hasdrubal was soon seen crossing the Pyrenees, with a considerable force, on his way to Italy. He spent the winter (209-208) in Gaul.
The two Carthaginian generals now in Spain, Mago, and Hasdrubal, the son of Gisco, retired, the latter to Lusitania, the former to the Baleares, to wait for reinforcements from home.
The next year another battle was fought near Baecula, resulting in the total defeat of the Carthaginians, who retreated to Gadus, in the southwestern part of Spain.
The country being now (206) under Roman influence, Scipio crossed the straits to Africa, and visited the Numidian princes, SYPHAX and MASINISSA, whom he hoped to stir up against Carthage. On his return, after quelling a mutiny of the soldiers, who were dissatisfied about their pay, he resigned his command, and started for Rome, where he intended to become a candidate for the consulship.
OPERATIONS IN ITALY.
The news of the approach of Hasdrubal caused intense anxiety at Rome. Every nerve was strained to prevent the union of the two brothers. The Consuls for this year (207) were GAIUS CLAUDIUS NERO, a patrician, and MARCUS LIVIUS, a plebeian. To the former was intrusted the task of keeping Hannibal in check in Bruttium, while the duty of intercepting Hasdrubal was given to the latter.
The Carthaginian had already reached the neighborhood of the river Metaurus, a small stream south of the Rubicon. From here he sent messengers to inform his brother of his approach and proposed line of march. These messengers were captured by Nero, and the contents of their despatches learned. He at once pushed north with his forces, joined Livius, met Hasdrubal on the METAURUS early in 207, and defeated his army with great slaughter. Among the slain was Hasdrubal himself. Nero returned south without delay, and the first intimation that Hannibal had of this battle was the sight of his brother's head thrown into the camp by the victorious foe.
The war in Italy was now virtually ended, for, although during four years more Hannibal stood at bay in a corner of Bruttium, he was powerless to prevent the restoration of Roman authority throughout Italy. Nothing now remained to Carthage outside of Africa, except the ground on which Hannibal was making his last stand.
INVASION OF AFRICA.
Scipio, on his return from Spain, urged an immediate invasion of Africa. He was elected Consul in 205, receiving Sicily as his province, with permission to cross into Africa if it seemed to him wise. He was so popular that voluntary contributions of men, money, and supplies poured in from all sides. The old-fashioned aristocracy, however, did not like him, as his taste for splendid living and Greek culture was particularly offensive to them; and a party in the Senate would have recalled him, had not the popular enthusiasm in his favor been too strong to be resisted.
In 204 he sailed from Lilybaeum, and landed near Utica. He was welcomed by Masinissa, whose friendship he had gained in his previous visit to Africa from Spain. Syphax, however, sided with Carthage; but in 203 Scipio twice defeated him and the Carthaginian forces.
Negotiations for peace followed, but the war party in Carthage prevailed. Hannibal was recalled. He returned to fight his last battle with Rome, October 19, 202, at ZAMA, a short distance west of Carthage. The issue was decided by the valor of the Roman legions, who loved their commander and trusted his skill. Hannibal met his first and only defeat, and Scipio won his title of AFRICÁNUS. The battle was a hard one. After all the newly enrolled troops of Hannibal had been killed or put to flight, his veterans, who had remained by him in Italy, although surrounded on all sides by forces far outnumbering their own, fought on, and were killed one by one around their beloved chief. The army was fairly annihilated. Hannibal, with only a handful, managed to escape to Hadrumétum.
The battle of Zama decided the fate of the West. The power of Carthage was broken, and her supremacy passed to Rome. She was allowed to retain her own territory intact, but all her war-ships, except ten, were given up, and her prisoners restored; an annual tax of about $200,000, for fifty years, was to be paid into the Roman treasury, and she could carry on no war without the consent of Rome. Masinissa was rewarded by an increase in territory, and was enrolled among the "allies and friends of the Roman people."
Rome was now safe from any attack. She had become a great Mediterranean power. Spain was divided into two provinces, and the north of Africa was under her protection.
Such was the result of the seventeen years' struggle. Scipio was welcomed home, and surnamed AFRICANUS. He enjoyed a triumph never before equalled. His statue was placed, in triumphal robes and crowned with laurels, in the Capitol. Many honors were thrust upon him, which he had the sense to refuse. He lived quietly for some years, taking no part in politics.
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